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Petrobras (PBR) Inks Sepia-Atapu Surplus Pact With Brazil

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Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. or Petrobras’ (PBR - Free Report) board of directors has approved a deal with the Brazilian government to sell excess reserves from the offshore oil fields of Sepia and Atapu located in the Santos basin pre-salt, off the coast of Brazil. The company will be compensated if there is an offer for the sale of surplus volumes in the two fields, according to the agreement.

Petrobras will gain $3.253 billion from the sale of additional volumes in the Atapu region. If the Sepia field's excess assets are auctioned, the company will earn another $3.2 billion. The payments will be spread out over a 10-year period.

The Brazilian company signed a transfer of rights agreement with the federal government in 2010, which gave it an opportunity to conduct exploration and development activities in the Sépia and Atapu regions.

Although the government failed to sell reserves in the Atapu and Sepia fields in 2019, officials are trying to retrieve the offer. Petrobras claims that it is entitled to compensation because the exploration and construction work in the two blocks is already completed by the company.

Last June, Petrobras commenced the oil and natural gas production at its Atapu pre-salt field. The output was generated using the P-70 floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) platform in the eastern region of the deepwater Santos Basin near the Búzios field, offshore Brazil. The Atapu-shared deposit, which consists of Oeste de Atapu, Atapu fields and a fragment of the country's noncontracted region, contributed to production growth in the pre-salt. 

Company Profile

Petrobras is the largest integrated energy firm in Brazil and one of the biggest in Latin America. The company’s activities include exploration, exploitation and production of oil from reservoir wells, shale and other rocks. The activities also include refining, processing, trading and transportation of oil and oil products, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons besides other energy-related operations.

Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

Petrobras currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the energy space are Matador Resources Company (MTDR - Free Report) , Diamondback Energy, Inc. (FANG - Free Report) and Devon Energy Corporation (DVN - Free Report) , each presently flaunting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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